The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published 18 reports on residential services for people with disabilities. HIQA inspects against the Health Act 2007 (Care and Support of Residents in Designated Centres for Persons (Children and Adults) with Disabilities) Regulations 2013 and the National Standards for Residential Services for Children and Adults with Disabilities, which apply to residential and respite services in Ireland.

All 18 of today’s reports refer to centres operated by the Health Service Executive (HSE). Eight of these inspection reports published today found a good level of compliance with the requirements of the regulations and standards.

HIQA had cancelled the registration of two of the centres which had previously been operated by other providers under Health Act 2017, one in May 2016 which was previously operated by the Irish Society for Autism and the other centre’s registration was cancelled on 22 May 2017 which was formerly operated by Camphill Communities Ireland. Following these cancellations, in accordance with Section 64(4) of the Health Act 2007, the HSE took over the operating of the centres. However, inspectors found that there continued to be major non-compliances in these centres in key areas such as ensuring the safety of residents through appropriate safeguarding practices, and governance and management.

Twelve reports published today refer to centres in the northwest of the country. Due to previous high levels of non-compliance in HSE centres in the northwest, HIQA undertook a programme in December 2016 and which ended in June 2017 to ensure the quality of service provided in the areas had improved.

Substantial improvements were found in HSE centres in the northwest, with two of these centres found to be fully compliant at the time of inspection, with no actions required. However, inspectors continued to identify areas of non-compliance that were impacting on the quality of life for residents in eight of the reports published today. Areas that required significant improvement included staffing levels appropriate to the assessed support and care needs of residents, written agreements between the residents and the centre, staff documentation and training for staff. For example, some of the centres did not have Garda Síochána (police) vetting disclosures available on the day of inspection and not all staff had up-to-date training in line with residents’ needs.